Plug-cock



(No Model.)

M. G. WI'LDER.

PLUG 000K. No. 472,093- Patented Apr. 5, 18.92.

Mft/: 17a/3.

176: 20. 176i 2A l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MOSES G. VILDER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PLUG-COCK. A

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 472,093, dated April 5, 1892.

Application filed April 14, 1890- Serial No. 347|865. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern,.-

Be it known that I, MOSES G. WILDER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city and county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Plug-Cocks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in what are known as p1ug-cocks; and it consists in the arrangement and construction of the several parts of the cock and in combining with these improved parts a by-pass and a gas-burner or other apparatus, so that I am able to produce not only a cheap and very effective cock for use in connection with any of the usual gas-littings, but am also able to make a simple and desirable by-pass cock for use as such in connection with various gasburners and other apparatus in which a bypass is required.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in which similar letters of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a central sectional elevation of my invention applied to a yoke for supporting'a gas or fluid regulator, such as is used over one of the down-current or other high-power lamps-for instance, the Lungren or Wenham; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same, showing lever for operating the plug-cock; Fig. 3, a sectional elevation, Fig. 4 a side elevation, and Fig. 5 an end view, of cap for closing end of cavity in which plug-cock works; Fig. 6, a section of Fig. 1 on line l 2; Fig. 7,a sectional elevation, Fig. 8 a plan, and Fig. 9 an end view, of plugcock; Fig. 10, a sectional elevation, Fig. 11 a side elevation, and Fig. 12 a front elevation, of a modiiication of my invention; Fig. 13, a plan of plug, showing one method of attaching operating-lever; Fig. 14, a side elevation of an operating-lever, showing a modified locking device; Fig. l5, a side elevation of plug, showing a modified device for operating it; Fig. 16, a plan of same, the thumb-piece being removed; Fig. 17, a side elevation of another operating device; Fig. 1S, a plan of the same, the thumb-piece being removed; Fig. 19, a side elevation of a cock, showing still another device for operating the plug; andl Figs. 2O and 2l, a front and side elevation of a spring for keeping the plugin its seat. v

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, A is a yoke such as is used for supporting the regulators to to the form shown in the drawings or which 6 5 may be spun or stamped from a flat piece of metal to the desired size and shape. There is in this plug-a central cavity b, extending from end to end, which serves as a gasway to allow the gas to reach the by-pass opening, which will be described hereinafter.

c c are openings in the plug a to allow the gas to enter and leave the plug, and d d are gas-passages in the yoke A, through which the gas passes to and from the plug a.

e, Figs. 1, 3, 4, and 5, is a cap'which closes the end of the valve-seat in which the plug a works. This cap is cup-shaped, as shown, and is driven into the valve-seat` after the plug has been put in place.

e is a disk, which closes the front end of cap e and which is furnished with projections e2, which enter corresponding slots e3 in the end of cap e.

f is a spring, one end of which bears against the end of cap e and the other end against disk e and which forces this disk out, which in turn forces and keeps the plug a firmly in its seat.

In the end piece a of the plug a is a hole 9o aand in the disk e is a corresponding hole c4, through which the gas may pass from the interior of plug ct to the interior of cap e, and from this cap to the by-pass g, which is formed by drilling up through the bottom of the yoke,

as shown in Fig. l. The lower part of the by-pass hole g is stopped by a plug or screw g2, and the by-pass is connected with a by-pass tube g3, which leads to the burner. (Not shown.) The amount of gas furnished to byroo` pass tube g3 is regulated by a screw B, Fig. 1. The cap e may be dispensed with, if desired,

andthe spring f may bear directly against the end of the plug and against some suitable support or the spring may be arranged in any other convenient manner.

In the larger sizes of plug-cocks the hollow plug enables me to introduce abolt C, with a head D, (see Fig. 1,) which may fill the cavity near the small end, and the shank of which, being squared or fiattened or made of some other irregular cross-section and made to eX- tend out into the lever E, serves to fasten this lever securely to the plu g ct, which, being made of sheet metal, would in some cases be too weak to sustain the wrenching strains caused by careless use were it not strengthened and reinforced by the bolt.

In Figs. l and 2 the lever E is furnished with a hub or boss 71, which is bored out, so as to receive the small end of plug a, and which hub or boss turns in a corresponding seat h' in the yoke A or in the seat of the plug a. This lever is thus supported entirely independently of the plug a, and this plug cannot be injured by any careless usage to which the lever may be subjected. The gas-passages c c in the plug Ct are so arranged that one movement of lever E brings them into line with the gas-passages d d in the yokeA and allows the gas to flow through these passages and the plug a to the burner. At the same time the holes a2 and c4 in the head of plug a and the end of cap e areimoved apart, so that the fiow of gas through these holes is stopped, but is again started when the plug is moved, so as to cut off the fiow of gas to the main openings.

The gas fed to by-pass g and to by-pass tube g3 feeds a small flame, not shown,) which lights the main burner when the gas is supplied to it. This action will be fully understood from the apparatus shown in Figs. 10, 11, and 12, which I will now proceed to describe. In these figures the bypass g is formed of a tube which passes clear through the cap e, as shown in Fig. 10, and its upper end is preferably drawn out, as shown. t is a cap surrounding the tube g and the burner j, as shown, the purpose of which is to prevent the flame burning on the tube g from being blown out by drafts, &c. The gas enters the tube g through a small hole g', and the gaspassages in plug a are so arranged that when the gasis completely shut off from the burner j a small amount of gas will still be fed to the tube in order to keep the flame on this tube burning. Then the gas is admitted to the burner proper, the flame on the tube will ignite the gas passing from the burner. s is a screw in the bottom of tube g, which reaches up to the opening g and serves the double purpose of regulating the size of opening and of closing the bottom of tube g.

In self-lighting burners it is necessary that the side light shall be large enough to act promptly, and in burners of this kind as usually made it causes a disturbance of the large flame and a disagreeable flickering. To obviate this, the supply of gas to the side light was partly cut off by the plug of the gas-cock when this plug was in a positionwhere the large flame was likely to be so disturbed, as it always would be when burning at its full size. In my improvement no such effect can be seen. The small flame remains lighted when the gas-cock is closed and the light entirely extinguished; but almost simultaneously with the turning on of the gas and the lighting of the burner this side light is almost or quite extinguished. This extinguishing of. theLside light is not due to any action of the gas-cock upon the gas-current, but is wholly due to a reduction of the gas-pressure in the gas -cock when the burner is lighted. This fact will be more apparent by considering the amount of pressure which would be found in the two conditions in the gas-passage leading to the side light and burner. 1When the gas-cock is closed, there is the full pressure of the supply in the gascock, and when the cock is open and the burner lighted there is an area of low pressure about the ascending current of gas, which almost entirely prevents its flow to the side light. During the time therefore that the side light is not required it disappears and no gas is wasted by it; but as soon asthe cock is closed, so as to reduce the fiow of gas to the burner, the sideli ght appears simultaneously.

Besides the advantages described there are several others which add to the value and convenience of this modification of my invention. The side -light tube g is perfectly straight, and when the adj listing-screw s is removed the interior of this tube can be cleaned by means of a straight wire, which can be passed freely up and down for this purpose.

The plugs of gas-cocks in general are made of castings or solid bodies of metal,whieh are shaped and finished by turning. The gasways are then drilled to match similar passages in the body of the cock. The lever is also fitted upon a squared or flattened part of the plug and fastened thereon by riveting or by means of screws or nuts, which are apt to work loose and cause annoyance and expense.

In Figs. 12 to 1S I show a number of ways for attaching the operating-lever or thumbpiece to my improved plug-cock.

In Figs. 12 and 13 the lever E is tapped out, so as to be screwed onto the end of plug ct, which has been previously threaded, and one side of which is flattened, as shown at k, Fig. 12. After the lever has been screwed onto the plug the end of the lever, which is made of a sufficient length for the purpose, is bent back and over the plug, as shown in Fig. 13, the plug passing through a hole in this end, which is of a shape corresponding to the fiattened shape of the end of the plug. The end of the lever forms a lock, which prevents the lever from unscrewing from the plug.

In Fig. 14 a side elevation of a lever is shown, which is punched out of sheet metal by dies and which is furnished with a hole l,

IIO

which is threaded and adapted to be screwed onto the end of the plug o. A tongue m is punched out and bent back previous to the threading of hole l, and after the lever is screwed onto the plug a this tongue is bent down again, so as to engage the ilattened part Za of the plug.

In Figs. 15 and 16 the thumb piece or lever E is carried by a yoke fn, which is screwed onto the end of plug a.. The thump-piece E is riveted to the yoke, as shown, and the top of the plug is furnished with a groove 0, Fig. 16, which the thumb-piece enters in order to prevent said thumb-piece and yoke from turning.

In Figs. 17 and 18 another modification is shown. In this case the yoke is similar to that already described; but the plu ginstead of having a groove on its top is furnished with grooves p p on its sides, as shown in Fig. 1S. In this case the thumb piece or lever E is furnished with a notch to receive and hold the end of the plug, which has been furnished with the grooves p for this purpose.

In Fig. 19 the body of the cockis furnished with a threaded portion fr, through which the plug a projects. A collar t is adapted to be screwed on the threaded portion r. t is a squared portion of collar t, by lneans of which and a wrench the collar may be moved. uis

a set-screw carried by collar t, the end of which bears against a flattened portion of the plug a. By turning the collar t the plug a may be operated to admit or shut off the supply of gas to the burner.

In Fig. 1 I have shown a spiral spring f for forcing the plug a into its seat, and in Figs. 2O and 21 I show a spring which is cut from a sheet of metal and which has portions o punched out and cuts 'w extending from one end of the punched-out portions to the edge of the plate or disk. That portion of the disk included between the periphery and the punched-out portions u is bent up, as shown, and after being tempered form springs, which, bearing against the plug a, will force it into its seat. A spring of this kind is shown in Fig. 10, and is placed between the plug a and the cap e.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A sh eet-metal plug threaded externally and grooved or flattened at the end, combined with a lever havingathreaded hole into which said plug may be screwed and tongue or flap adapted to be bent down upon the projecting end of the plug, so as to engage, lock, and se- Y' curely hold the plug fast tothe lever.

2. In a plug-cook, and in combination with a sheet-metal plug, and the body of the cock, and as a device for rotating said cock without wrenching or straining it, a lever or operating-piece fitted to and supported by the body of the cock, substantially as described.

Mosns e. WILDER.

Witnesses:

MORRIS R. BooKIUs, CHAs. A. BUTTER. 

